On the fifth day of the first lunar month, today is the end of the four-day holiday of the New Year, the officials of the various yamen are out of work normally, and the state machinery of the entire Tang Dynasty is in operation.

Li Qing's debriefing time is scheduled to be held in Shen Shizheng (3 o'clock in the afternoon), the venue is the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace, Tianbao seven years ago, the annual debriefing was held here, and later changed to Huaqing Palace, this year Li Longji returned from Huaqing Palace ahead of schedule, and the debriefing place returned to the old place.

Li Qing had only received a debriefing form from the palace supervisor the night before, and had learned that today's debriefing envoys needed to enter the imperial city at the time of the early dynasty, but Li Qing did not know this detail, which led to the cancellation of his plan to travel with his family in the morning.

Like in the past, he set off from his home before dawn, and Suzaku Street was full of carriages of officials entering the court, and orange-red lanterns swayed gently in the cold wind, making Li Qing feel like he had returned to the past.

Although the emperor is no longer in court, the officials still enter the Suzaku Gate and the Danfeng Gate in an orderly manner, and no one will be late.

It's still early, you can see officials gathered in groups everywhere in the imperial city, today is the first time to enter the court in the new year, colleagues seem to be extra affectionate, it seems that they haven't seen each other for a year, in fact, many people just broke up a few hours ago, most of the officials talked about ***, and important topics were finished as early as the New Year.

"Li Qing! Lee-sama! Li Qing's carriage had just stopped in front of the gate of the military headquarters, and suddenly he heard someone calling him, and when he looked out of the window, he saw several people standing on the steps, the first of whom was a man in his fifties, Li Qing had seen him, and Zhang Qiqiu, the envoy of Shuo Fangjiedu, had scheduled his debriefing on tomorrow morning. Li Qing got out of the carriage, but his eyes fell on the person next to Zhang Qiqiu, and saw that he was about forty years old and wearing a military uniform. He was thin and tall, and he stood there like a straight benchmark, his skin dark. His face was angular, and he looked at the sword at his waist with half-closed eyes, and his eyes were faintly shining.

Li Qing quickly stepped forward and smiled at Zhang Qiqiu: "Didn't Lord Zhang report on his work tomorrow?" Why did you come here today? ”

"I heard that it is difficult to pass this year's debriefing. I'm going to have to make up for it today. Zhang Qiqiu said, but saw that Li Qing had been looking at his deputy, so he took his hand and introduced: "This is Li Guangbi, the famous general of my Shuo Fang, has Master Li heard of it?" ”

Li Qing was stunned, no wonder his temperament was mighty, it turned out that he was Li Guangbi. Sure enough, he is a famous general, and another general, Guo Yi, is also the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, and is currently staying in Shuofang, Li Qing saw him once in Qiuzi last year.

Li Qing nodded to Li Guangbi with a smile, which was regarded as a greeting. Li Guangbi wanted to speak and stopped, and glanced at Zhang Qiqiu slightly from the corner of his eye. He was silent.

Li Qing saw that he seemed to have something to say to himself, so he smiled and changed the topic to Zhang Qiqiu: "I heard that Li Xianzhong's rebellion, Shuofang's army suffered heavy losses. Is there such a thing? ”

Zhang Qiqiu's face changed slightly, and he said with a haha: "Our Shuofang army lost the battle, and naturally suffered heavy losses, so don't mention this matter!" Don't mention it! ”

Li Qing didn't ask any more questions, and arched his hand to him: "Li Qing will report on his work in the afternoon, and he has to prepare, and if he invites Master Zhang to drink another day, he won't accompany him much." ”

"That's good, Lord Li, please!"

.

The first glow of red has begun to appear in the eastern sky, the morning bell is ringing, the officials who are chatting everywhere have walked back to their yamen, and the imperial city quickly quieted down.

Although the envoys of each section do not serve in the court, they are in a high position, and they are here to report on their work once a year, and the military department has specially prepared a room for them, Li Qing's room is in the easternmost head of a long corridor, the front and back yards are full of flowers and plants, and a stream crosses the bridge.

The original of the debriefing report had already been handed in, and he still had a copy in his hand, and at this moment he was silently reading the contents of the report to see if there were any loopholes, at this time, the door knocked gently, and his staff member Zhang Ji whispered outside the door: "Envoy, someone has been invited." ”

"Please come in!" Li Qing packed up the debriefing report, the door creaked open, Li Guangbi's dark and contoured face appeared at the door, he strode in, hugged his fist at Li Qingyi and said, "Guangbi has seen Lord Envoy." ”

"General Li, please be seated!"

Li Qing invited Li Guangbi to sit down, a relative soldier served him tea, took the door and retreated, there were only the two of them in the room, it was very quiet, Li Qing lowered his head and smiled and opened his mouth first: "I saw that General Li wanted to speak and stopped, but it was difficult to say it in front of Lord Zhang, if you have anything to say now, please say it." ”

Li Guangbi was silent for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "I just saw that the envoy's sword is very familiar, but Wang Zhonghe's old thing?" ”

"Yes, this sword is indeed a gift from Wang Zhonghe." Li Qing took off the sword from under his waist, put it on the table, gently pushed it towards Li Guangbi, and said with a slight smile: "General Li, but it doesn't hurt to look at it." ”

Li Guangbi was stunned, he actually gave the sword to himself when they met for the first time, which really surprised him, he silently picked up the sword and looked at it carefully, "Yes!" Be! It is his sword, and though the sword is in the man, it is dead. Gently stroking the sword, before he knew it, his eyes were red.

After a while, he carefully returned the sword to Li Qing, and sighed: "This sword followed Wang Shuai Rongma all his life, I don't know how many enemy chieftains died under him, he once told me that those who got this sword can inherit his mantle, and then Wang Shuai died unjustly, and this sword disappeared without a trace, we all thought that this sword had been extinguished, but today I saw it on the general." ”

The more Li Guangbi spoke, the more excited he became, he lifted the hem of his clothes and knelt down to Li Qing on one knee: "Please accept my worship!" ”

Li Qing didn't help him, but only smiled faintly and said, "I hope General Li worships me, not this sword." ”

"Definitely!"

Li Guangbi's face

Red, stood up abruptly and said loudly: "The sword belongs to the sword, the person belongs to the person, the general opened up the territory for my Tang Dynasty, fought Tibet, and hit the big food, in the eyes of Guangbi, this is the real inheritance of Wang Shuai's mantle, not just a sword, if it weren't for that." Even if I break my leg, I will never bend it. ”

Li Qing was silent, and apologized for a long time: "It's Ben Shuai who blames you, and I apologize to you here." General Li, please sit down and speak, I have something to ask you. ”

Li Guangbi saw that the dignified Anxi Dadu Protector and Shangshu Zuo Servant actually admitted his mistake to himself. His heart was moved, and the dissatisfaction he had just given birth was suddenly swept away, and he sat down and said happily: "The general has something to ask." ”

"I want to ask Li Xianzhong about the defeat of the army. General Lee may tell me the truth? ”

Li Guangbi was silent, in fact, he followed Zhang Qiqiu into Beijing to expose An Lushan's private collection of Shuo Fangjun to the imperial court, but just last night, Zhang Qiqiu suddenly found him and told him that Yang Guozhong had intervened in this matter and did not allow him to mention it again, Li Guangbi was extremely resentful, but he was helpless. Now Li Qing suddenly asked him about this time, which made him seem to see a ray of light in the darkness of the long past.

He is a very principled person, and he will never tolerate Yang Guozhong and An Lushan conspiring with Shuofang's elite army, and it should have belonged to his troops.

"Soldiers are the weapons of the state, how can they be abolished for their own selfishness."

Lee Kwang-pil made up his mind. He said slowly in a low, slightly hoarse voice, "Now that this army is stationed in the clouds, it doesn't have any name. It's already completely An Lushan's private army, and I came to the capital to report this matter, but it was just last night. Master Zhang suddenly told me that Yang Guozhong had intervened in this matter, and ordered me not to mention it again, and An Lushan's incorporation of Shuofang's army would be stopped. ”

"Then what evidence is there to prove that Yang Guozhong has intervened in this matter?"

Li Guangbi shook his head and said: "I don't know the specifics, Master Zhang only told me that the investigation of the Ministry of War could not be completed, since he said that it was Yang Guozhong, it must be based on something." ”

Unconsciously, Li Qing had already gotten up and stood in front of the window, he couldn't sit still, and it was an accident that he met Li Guangbi today, but what Li Guangbi said made him discover a big secret: there was an ulterior deal between Yang Guozhong and An Lushan.

There should only be a transaction between them rather than an alliance, otherwise An Lushan would not beat Yang Guozhong's three, maybe Yang Guozhong had some handle that An Lushan pinched, or maybe An Lushan and Yang Guozhong exchanged what they needed.

But these are not important, the important thing is that Yang Guozhong and An Lushan have come to the same road, although the matter is small, but Li Qing has seen a lot of things from this, just like an iceberg, ordinary people only see the part on the sea, but Li Qing has seen another rich iceberg world under the sea level.

First of all, Yang Guozhong didn't know about the account book, otherwise he wouldn't have done such a stupid thing that was close to conspiracy to rebel, and secondly, Li Longji didn't tell him about it, which shows that Li Longji still has some doubts about Yang Guozhong, he doesn't trust him very much, and even Li Longji believes in himself more in this matter.

This seemingly delicate relationship often affects the formulation of major decisions of the imperial court, and even determines the direction of history, but now things are still unclear, although Li Qing only sees a vague outline, but he has a new idea in his heart.

.

Time passed quickly, after lunch, Li Qing was taken to the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace by several eunuchs, and the debriefing was advanced, originally scheduled to be held in Shenshi, but now it was an hour in advance, because An Lushan's debriefing was only carried out in less than a quarter of an hour.

Li Qing stood outside the hall and waited for only a moment, and with a light and crisp cloud board, the debriefing officially began, and a eunuch trotted out and shouted: "Xuan'an Xijiedu envoy Li Qing to meet him." ”

Immediately several guards brought Li Qing in, Zichen Hall is the third hall of Daming Palace, also known as Tianbian Palace, is the most common place for the Tang Emperor to stay in addition to the imperial study, many military affairs are decided here, so entering this hall is called 'entering the cabinet' by the courtiers, it is a very glorious thing.

The hall was wide and magnificent, but there were only a dozen people sparsely seated at the very end, and these dozen people were the highest decision-making group in Datang.

High up in the middle of the steps is naturally the Tang Emperor Li Longji, although he did not take a nap, he was still in good spirits, his complexion was ruddy, and he was smiling and watching Li Qing approach.

Li Qing strode forward, knelt down and bowed to Li Longji, "Minister Li Qing see His Majesty the Emperor!" ”

"Li Aiqing is exempt from the courtesy, give a seat!"

Li Longji waved his hand slightly, and immediately two eunuchs put on a heavy chair, Li Qing sat down, his eyes swept to both sides, and the first one saw Gao Lishi standing behind Li Longji, he was holding a stack of books, his eyes were indifferent, and there was no expression on his face.

Secondly, there were two rows of people sitting on both sides of him, and the first one on the right turned out to be Li Linfu. Now it was Yang Guozhong, the right minister who was sitting with a sneer, stabbing at him with a gloomy gaze from time to time, and next to him was Zhang Yun, the head of the household department with a worried face, seeing Li Qing. He sighed slightly and shook his head slightly; Further down is Pei Kuan, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, who is closing his eyes and recuperating, as if he doesn't know anything. But there was a hint of pity and helplessness at the corners of his mouth.

Opposite Yang Guozhong, the first is Chen Xilie, the newly reinstated left minister, today is his first day to attend such an important debriefing meeting, and he is smiling triumphantly at the moment. He had a rich expression on his face and kept coughing, lest others not know that he existed.

Sitting next to him was Li Qing's old subordinate when he was in the household department, and Wei Jiansu, who had just been promoted to the secretary of the military department, his face was solemn, his lips were white and stretched into a straight line, and he looked quite nervous.

Further down is the gloating Xingbu Shangshu, the former Jiannan Jiedu envoy Guo Xuji, and finally the Ministry of Works, but now it is temporarily missing. His seat was temporarily seated by Fang Xuan, the servant of the Ministry of Officials.

In addition to these dozen cabinet members, there were also some auxiliary officials sitting around, such as Yu Shicheng, scholars, palace supervisors, Hanlin scholars, and so on.

But Li Qing's gaze finally stopped on a person, which made him secretly shocked, this person was none other than him. It was King Qing Li Cong, in a corner of his steps. From Li Qing's point of view, he happened to be blocked by Chen Xilie, and he hadn't seen him for three years. He lost a lot of weight, but he looked very energetic, but at this moment he didn't look at Li Qing, but was engrossed in looking at the fold of his hand, it should be An Lushan's debriefing report, Li Qingxin couldn't help but smile coldly, it seems that Li Longji finally wanted to be too big.

"Let's get started!"

The smile on Li Longji's face disappeared, he took Li Qing's debriefing report from Gao Lishi's hand, turned a page, and said to Li Qing: "Yesterday afternoon, I had a meeting with several ministers to discuss it, and basically agreed with your westward expansion plan, but there are some problems, I want to make it clear, the first is the tax issue, if you go out as a soldier, you can get tax exemption, if there are more tax exempt people, then where does the government's tax come from?" Have you thought about it? This is the first, you answer Yu I first. ”

"The minister has considered that first of all, the tax exemption is not all land tax exemption, and the tax exemption mentioned by the minister is only tax exemption for a piece of Yongye Tian, and the part of the land still has to be paid for rent, but the tax is slightly lighter; Secondly, His Majesty set the number of soldiers for the Anxi army to be 74,000 people, since there is an upper limit, then not every household can be a soldier, there must be some families who do not enjoy tax exemption, so that there is a part of the tax source, and then the implementation of military cantonment, so that the military food can be self-sufficient; But these are not the most important, the real source of tax comes from the commercial tax, the salt tax, and the government itself has also established a commercial bank, the minister has calculated, as long as the trade volume between my Tang Dynasty and the countries of the Western Regions can reach seventy percent of the twenty-five years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the tax collected will be enough to meet the daily expenses. ”

Li Longji nodded slightly, and asked Zhang Yun, the head of the household department, "What does Zhang Aiqing think?" ”

Zhang Yun smiled slightly: "Our household is out of the land, and the minister is naturally relieved, even if there is no way in the end, Li Shilang will dig out the gold from the river." ”

He said it humorously, and everyone laughed heartily, and Li Longji also smiled lightly: "I have forgotten his old profession." He waved his hand and said, "This first article is over, and you will draft the detailed rules and submit them to the household department later,"

Li Longji turned the next page again, glanced at Pei Kuan, and said to Li Qing: "There is another one proposed by Pei Shangshu, which is that your plan does not involve the post station, is there any omission?" ”

Li Qingyi, he really forgot this, he hurriedly replied: "This is omitted by the minister." ”

"The post station is extremely important, this involves the connection between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty, you must not take it lightly, you go back and make up for it!"

Li Longji saw that Li Qing nodded in agreement, so he stopped mentioning the matter, turned another page, and a trace of strong interest suddenly flashed in his eyes and asked: "In your plan, there is an article about the establishment of a wide school, and I don't understand the rule that it is free and compulsory for ten years from the beginning of the fifth year, you might as well talk about it." ”

Li Qing's consideration was naturally set up in accordance with the annual compulsory education of later generations, but it also has his deep meaning in setting up here.

"Your Majesty, the west of the Green Ridge is thousands of miles away from my Tang Dynasty, there are many Hu people, and in the future, I will immigrate to the past, and it is inevitable to intermarry with them, in order to let my original transformation be passed on to their grandchildren forever, in order to let them not forget their roots, so the minister uses a compulsory method to order children over the age of five, regardless of gender, to be enrolled in school for ten years, if there is a violation of the order of a hundred rods, not for slavery, this is the first priority in the eyes of the minister, I hope Your Majesty agrees."

"Good! Very good! "Li Longji stood up and applauded loudly. Don't forget your roots', he read it twice in a row, and praised it from the bottom of his heart: "Just with you, I will let you stay in the Western Regions for a few more years." This is actually what I am worried about, ten years later, they may still know that they are Tang people, but what about a hundred or hundreds of years from now? Can they still remember where their roots are? So this one of Aiqing. I am absolutely in favor of it, including the enrollment of girls, and I have also approved it. ”

Speaking of which. Li Longji smiled at several ministers and said, "I and Li Aiqing have already talked a few days ago, so I don't have any questions, do you have anything to ask?" If not, Anxi Jiedu made Li Qing's debriefing report be over. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has something to ask." It was naturally Yang Guozhong who stood up, he had been waiting for this moment for nearly a year, how could he let Li Qing end his debriefing with appreciation.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that since this is a debriefing, it should be a debriefing on what he has done in the past year. The minister also wanted to know the current situation in Anxi, but after listening to it for a long time, what Li Yuanjun said was all about future plans, and he didn't say a word about what happened in the past year, since the emperor had approved Li Yuanjun's debriefing. The minister had nothing to say, but at the end of last year, he met a general from Anzai. He impeached Li Yuanjun for the bloody massacre of 30,000 Tang allies before the Battle of Rus, and the minister wanted to ask His Majesty to agree to let this person in to testify. ”

"Your Majesty, the minister is against it!" Zhang Yun stood up in one step. He turned his head and stared at Yang Guozhong and said: "Yang Xiangguo, this matter has been discussed by the imperial court many times, and it has already been decided, Li Qing has merits and faults, and his merits have offset each other, why do you want to mention this matter again?" Moreover, this did not happen last year, and there is no need to mention it if it is according to Yang Xiangguo's meaning, so Yang Xiangguo still thinks about it clearly. ”

"Zhang Shangshu was surprised by this, I want to say a few fair words." These two sentences were said in a weird way, and I saw Chen Xilie stand up, puff his goatee and say: "Your Majesty, the qualifications here are the oldest and the most qualified to preside over justice." ”

He glanced at Li Qing, this person almost killed him when he was in Nanzhao, he has never forgotten this hatred, and now he is Yang Guozhong's ironcore, new hatred and old hatred burst out in his heart together, how could he not stand up.

"Although this incident happened the year before last, the matter was not over, until last year, there was a messenger from Glolu who came to ask about it, and to this day there is still no answer to others, which is really detrimental to my heavenly face, besides, Gao Xianzhi did something similar but was dismissed from the post of envoy of Anxi Jiedu, Zhang Shangshu, the same

As an official, why favor one over the other? ”

"But what Li Qing killed and what Gao Xianzhi killed are not the same, why should they be compared?" Zhang Yun sneered.

Chen Xilie snorted heavily and said, "But in the old man's opinion, Li Qing's killing is even more serious!" ”

"That's it!"

Li Longji stopped their quarrel with a loud voice, he had been observing Li Qing just now, and when he saw that he was sneering and silent, he knew that he had a countermeasure, so he asked him: "Li Qing, are you willing to let someone testify to confront you?" ”

"No objection!" He also wanted to know, who was the witness Yang Guozhong was talking about?

"Okay, I'll approve Yang Xiangguo's request."

In a moment, Wang Tao, who took refuge in Yang Guozhong, was brought up, although Yang Guozhong had told him many times, but his official position was humble, and the first time he came to this kind of occasion in his life, he was so frightened that he trembled all over, and fell to the ground and couldn't say a word.

"Wang Tao, it turned out to be you!" Li Qing walked up to him and sneered: "I approved you to ask for leave to go back to Beijing to visit relatives, it turns out that your relatives actually visited like this?" ”

Wang Tao heard Li Qing's voice, and suddenly remembered that he kicked himself out of the army, and the fire of hatred suddenly rose, and he overpowered the fear, he climbed forward a few steps, kowtowed a few times, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, the people of Grolu died so miserably! ”

Then he told Li Qing how to coax the Grolu people to Baishui City, and how to set fire to the city, and burned 30,000 Grolu people alive, so far Baishui City is still a dead city, and the white bones of the Grolu people still exist, speaking of the tragedy, Chen Xilie next to him smacked his lips and sighed again and again, looking at the posture as if he was going to go to Baishui City and personally go to the Grolu people to spend their souls.

"Your Majesty, have you heard, treating the allies so cruelly, how can my Tang Dynasty gain a foothold in the Western Regions in the future." Yang Guozhong was heartbroken, he suddenly raised his arms and shouted, "Your Majesty, such a butcher cannot be forgiven, and the minister strongly requests that he be removed from all official positions and go down to Dali Temple to ask for guilt!" ”

"Li Qing, how do you explain this?" Li Longji quietly kicked the ball to Li Qing.

Li Qing suddenly raised his head and laughed, his laughter suddenly stopped, and he said coldly to Yang Guozhong: "Yang Xiangguo, may I ask why I want to kill the Grolu people?" ”

"This. lowered his head and didn't say a word, even Li Siye didn't know, how could he know the reason.

"Li Shilang, what is the emperor asking you?" Chen Xilie took over the conversation and hurriedly relieved Yang Guozhong.

"Then I'll tell you, the Grolu people have a secret agreement with the Great Cannibal, and they will attack the Tang army inside and outside during the decisive battle, if I don't kill it, do I still have to beat gongs and drums to send them back to their hometown?"

Li Qingdi's words moved everyone, Pei Kuan was anxious, and was the first to ask: "Li Qing, do you have any evidence for this?" ”

Li Qing nodded, and said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the minister also has a witness, and he is waiting at the military headquarters now, can you announce his audience." ”

"Exactly! I gave him a white body, and brought him in quickly. ”

After about a quarter of an hour, the guards brought in a pale young man, who knew court etiquette, and took two steps to pay homage to Li Longji: "The minister is the king of the original stone country, Che Bi Shi's cha Duolu, see His Majesty Tian Khan." ”

This young man was captured by Li Qing in Ross Che Duolu, Li Qing early expected that Yang Guozhong would not let him go, so he left him behind, and testified to himself at a critical time, in order to get his cooperation, Li Qing promised to make him the king of Kangguo in the future, Che Duolu received such a generous gift, and naturally agreed.

Li Longji was also very interested, looked at him carefully and said with a smile: "It turns out that you are Che Nose Shizhi, I heard that your father surrendered to the Great Food, is it because I have treated you badly?" ”

"Your Majesty, that was a big mistake made by his father in a moment of confusion, and he has paid the price with his life for this, please forgive him!"

Li Longji suddenly remembered Gao Xianzhi's slaughter, and waved his hand with little confidence: "I won't mention this matter, I came to ask you, Li Qing said that the Grolu and the Great Cannibal colluded, you may prove it?" “

"The minister can prove that Abbasid's uncle Budu told me personally in the city of Rus' that the Grand Chief of Grolo had indeed sent an envoy to the Great Food to negotiate cooperation."

"Humph! Who can believe one-sided words? ”

Yang Guozhong didn't wait for him to finish, then interrupted him impatiently, and said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, unless he can come up with evidence, the minister still insists on his opinion, and he will severely punish Li Qing and return justice to the court." ”

"A good one to return justice to the court!" Li Qing suddenly sneered, looked at Yang Guozhong and said: "Yang Xiangguo, you keep saying that you want to return justice to the imperial court, then let me ask you, where is Li Xianzhong's defeated army, and where is the elite of the 40,000 Shuo Fang now?" Why didn't you send out an investigation officer, and what happened here? ”

Li Qing's sudden words shocked Yang Guozhong into a chill, as if he had stepped into the abyss, cold sweat on his hands, back, and forehead gushed out together, his legs trembled, his teeth moved violently up and down, and he pointed at Li Qing and said in a trembling voice: "You, what are you talking about?" I—I don't—I understand. ”

"You understand! What am I talking about, you know it very well in your heart, do you think that only God knows? Li Qing looked at him with pity, he suddenly turned to Li Longji and said, "Your Majesty, the person sent to investigate Li Xianzhong's case is now on the way back, as long as you ask them who sent someone to let them go away, this matter will be clear at a glance." ”

Li Longji stared at Yang Guozhong without saying a word, and slowly, his face became more and more gloomy, his eyes became more and more gloomy and terrifying, and suddenly two words popped out from between his teeth: "Quasi-play!" ”